This invention is directed toward a device which provides buoyancy to objects with negative buoyancy in water. The invention comprises several embodiments of a basic idea: to have a water-sensitive trigger which, when activated, allows water to flood an enclosed container, which causes a balloon to inflate, thereby floating an object to the surface of a body of water. One embodiment has a water-soluble bobbin dissolve upon contact with water, thereby allowing a spring to pus a canister of compressed gas into a sharp syringe which punctures the canister and directs the compressed gas into a balloon, which expands, thereby causing the object to float upon the surface where the user can then easily and safely retrieve it. A second embodiment has a water-activated trigger open a closed container which has at least one substance in it which, when mixed with water, creates bubbles, which are directed into a balloon. There are a number of variable characteristics, including canister size, trigger fuse length, balloon configuration, and housing material that allow a user tremendous flexibility in selecting a proper size of the invention for the user's intended purpose. Other embodiments of the invention provide breathing air for underwater purposes, means of floating sunken objects with holds, such as boats, and means of keeping cars, boats, airplanes, etc. floating when they fall into water.
One of the major problems facing boaters is the fact that there are many important objects on a boat which sink if dropped into the water. Common examples include keys, sunglasses, windlass cranks, and ropes. Once an object such as these, or any other object with negative buoyancy in water, falls into water it will sink. In many cases, should the object be important, or, as in the case of keys to a boat's engine, essential to the safety of the excursion, the loss of an object will have catastrophic consequences.
Thus, there has existed for as long as humans have used boats on the water a need for a device which allows negatively buoyant objects to float on the water until the object can be retrieved.
The prior has several examples of attempts to resolve this problem. The most common is a plastic float which is usually attached to the negatively buoyant object by means of a keychain, such that if the object is dropped overboard the object will float. These floats, however, because they do not enlarge in size and volume with compressed air, must be large enough to float and object. Thus, as a practical matter they are limited to small objects such as keys; a plastic float large enough to keep a windless crank above water would have to be so large that it would be impractical to keep one attached to the windlass crank at all times.
Thus there has existed a long-felt need for a device which allows a user to attach a small, inexpensive, and lightweight device to a negatively buoyant object such that the object will not sink when it falls in water. The current invention provides just such a solution by having a device which provides buoyancy to objects with negative buoyancy in water. The invention comprises a water-sensitive trigger which, when activated, causes a compressed gas to exit a canister and enter a balloon, which expands, thereby causing the object to float upon the surface where the user can then easily and safely retrieve it. There are a number of variable characteristics, including canister size, trigger fuse length, balloon configuration, and housing material that allow a user tremendous flexibility in selecting a proper size of the invention for the user's intended purpose.
Another common problem relating to water occurs when a car, truck, airplane, helicopter, train, or boat fills with water and sinks. Recovering sunken objects such as these is extremely difficult, as the object, in addition to its substantial weight in metal and other negatively buoyant materials, has the additional weight of the water which fills each compartment, or hold, of the object. The main method by which sunken objects such as these are recovered is to attach a strong line to the sunken object, then try to lift the object back to the surface of whatever ocean, river, or lake it sunk into.
Thus, there has also existed a long-felt need for a device and method by which a large sunken object with holds can be brought back to the surface. The current invention provides such a solution by teaching an inflation device with a “long” fuse time and a tough balloon. One or more of the invention can be inserted into the sunken object's hold or holds, either by SCUBA divers, submersibles, or remote control roving vehicles, and the long fuse allows sufficient time for the invention to be inserted. When the water finally eats through the long fuse, triggering the release of compressed gas, or delaying the access time it takes for water to reach a substance or substances which when mixed with water produce bubbles, the balloon expands and fills the hold, pushing out water and replacing the neutrally buoyant water with positively buoyant gas. If enough of the inflation devices are placed in the holds, eventually enough water will be forced out of the object and enough uncompressed gas will be trapped by the balloons inside the sunken object such that the object begins to float up to the surface on its own.
Another embodiment of the invention calls for the invention to be manufactured such that it can be installed as part of the original manufacture in cars, trucks, helicopters, airplanes, trains, and boats, or retrofitted into existing objects, where the invention is located in all of the holds of a particular object. The purpose of the invention in this embodiment is to provide a means of filling the holds before the water can completely fill the holds, and expelling that water which has already entered, thereby preventing the object from sinking.
For example, in an airplane the inventions could be positioned on the bottom of the cargo holds. If an airplane has to perform an emergency landing on a body of water, some water may begin to seep through into the cargo hold. Upon reaching the triggering devices, the water will set off the inflation process in which large balloons will very quickly fill to capacity, taking up all available space in the cargo holds and expelling the water that is already there. This would keep the airplane afloat for at least enough time for the passengers to evacuate safely.
Another example would be boats with holds. Had the Titanic had one of the inventions in each hold, the five holds which were initially damaged by the iceberg would have quickly been filled with a balloon rather than water, thereby, possibly keeping the boat afloat and at the very least given the passengers enough time to disembark safely. The invention is equally applicable to smaller boats, such as 20′-30′ sailboats, which have at least several holds that could be effectively turned into flotation chambers by the invention.
A final problem that has plagued many water sports enthusiasts is the basic fact that humans do not have gills. As such, when a human is kept underwater for longer than a couple of minutes, the human usually dies. In sports such as SCUBA diving, kayaking, and big wave surfing, such submersions happen occasionally. Another embodiment of the invention provides breathing air for underwater purposes. In this embodiment, the canister contains compressed air, suitable for breathing. The trigger can be depth-sensitive or pressure-sensitive such that the inflation mechanism is triggered when the user exceeds a certain depth or has enough water on top of him/her that the triggering mechanism actives the inflation mechanism at certain pressures. The trigger can also have a variable length of fuse such that if a user has been submerged for a certain period of time, the trigger mechanism is eaten through by the water and the balloon is inflated, thereby carrying the user to the surface of the water.
A further trigger mechanism involves a small sponge which is compressed against the interior wall of the canister by a lever arm of a latch. Rather than relying upon the pressure of an expanding balloon to open the end cap, this triggering mechanism relies up the natural tendency of a dry, compressed sponge to absorb water and expand. The canister, when used with a sponge trigger, requires one or more holes in the canister to allow water into the canister when the invention is submerged into water. As the sponge absorbs the water, it expands rapidly and substantially, pushing out on the lever arm that has compressed it against the interior wall of the canister. As the lever arm is forced away from the interior wall of the canister, a latch at the end of the lever arm is dislodged from a locking point on the end cap. The lever arm is the sole means by which the end cap remains fixed over the open end of the canister, so when the lever arm is dislodged, it releases the end cap. The end cap can be constructed with or without a coiled spring at its pivot point of attachment to the top of the canister, such that with a coiled spring the end cap pops open on its own; without the spring the end cap is merely released so that the expanding balloon can open the end cap as it expands.
The canister can be manufactured in one, two, or three pieces. There are advantages and disadvantages to each design. With a one-piece canister, there is less likelihood that the means of connection between the various parts will malfunction, but it will be more difficult to insert all the various pieces of the apparatus (plunger, spring, canister, syringe, etc.) in the correct order. With a multi-piece canister, it will be easier to assemble—as at least the canister and bobbin have to be replaced after every use—but there is some danger that the screw threads or whatever other means of attachment there exists between the various section of the canister will become corroded, jammed with debris, or suffer from some other problem or malfunction.
Looking specifically at the “one-piece” canister, that is, a canister that is one unit comprising a hollow cylinder with one solid end and one open end, where an end cap is hingably attached to the open end, there are other ways to design what is basically a container made from two parts. It is possible to design the canister such that rather than being a cylinder which is considerably longer than its diameter, with an open end into which the various components of the invention can be inserted, that the container (referring to the combination of the canister and the end cap), can be manufactured to achieve the exact same desired means—namely an enclosing container that springs open when a certain amount of water or water at a certain pressure infiltrates the canister—by omitting the end cap and producing a canister manufactured in two mating halves. In this configuration, the two canister halves would be connected at the bottom by a hinge, and at the top by the lever, such that once the sponge expanded, it would allow the two halves to separate. The separation could be accomplished by either allowing the balloon to fill with the compressed gas, thereby forcing the two halves apart as the balloon expanded, or by positioning a spring in between the two halves such that the two halves were under constant pressure to separate, and the lever releasing from the lock would allow the spring for forcibly move the two halves apart.
Canister shapes other then a simple cylinder are envisioned. Indeed, just about any shape that could be made from two mating portions could accomplish the same result as the basic cylinder referred to in the bulk of this application. For example, nautically themed containers such as stylized wheels, treasure chests or sails could be manufactured so that the device would fit in with the boat and lifestyle of the owner.
It is also possible to use substances other than compressed air to create the lift necessary to bring the device to which the invention is attached back to the surface. It is well known that there are a number of substances which together, or in combination with other substances, will produce bubbles when mixed with each other or with water. The invention also contemplates that the gas to fill the balloon could be generated by a single substance combined with water, or two or more substances combined with water. A further version of the invention provides a mechanism by which two or more substances which when combined with each other produce gas and the incoming water that percolates through the holes in the canister dissolves a bobbin in between the two or more substances, thereby allowing them to mix and produce bubbles.
The embodiments of the invention which use substances rather than compressed gas could be manufactured in all the various embodiments of the container configurations, including the cylindrical container in one or multiple parts connected to an end cap, or the container with two mating halves without an end cap.